Mindful leadership training for public administration executive staff: a non-randomized controlled trial

Rapid societal and organizational changes pose challenges for public administrations, where leadership style influences employee functioning and organizational effectiveness. Mindful leadership integrates mindfulness-based self-regulation (present-moment awareness, attentional control, and non-reactivity) with leadership behaviors to support ethical, relational, and effective decision-making. To evaluate the effectiveness of a mindful leadership training program compared with an active control condition (management skills training) among executive staff in a public administration setting. We conducted a parallel non-randomized controlled trial in a public administration context. Executive staff were recruited via organizational invitation and snowball procedures and assigned to mindful leadership training (n = 41) or management skills training (n = 24). Leadership, work engagement, mindfulness-related skills, and well-being outcomes were assessed at baseline, immediately post-intervention, and at six-month follow-up. Group-by-time effects were tested using repeated-measures models (including the group × time interaction) and results are reported with corresponding effect estimates. Group × time interactions were not statistically significant across outcomes. Descriptively, the mindful leadership group showed time-related improvements in work engagement, transformational leadership, and mental well-being indicators, whereas the management skills group showed lower scores at follow-up for these outcomes. Other measures showed no clear change over time. Mindful leadership training may be a feasible and potentially beneficial approach for supporting leadership-related and well-being outcomes among public administration executive staff. Given the non-randomized design and unequal group sizes, further randomized and adequately powered trials are needed. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT07132931 (released 12 August 2025).